BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FOUNDING MEMBER & CHAIR
John Edge
John Edge received his Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Mobile College in 1970. He attended graduate school at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and completed his Masters Degree in Healthcare Administration in 1976. He and his family moved to Dothan, Alabama in 1977, where he served as Administrator of Flowers Hospital. He retired from that position in 1993 and has served as a member of civic and health-related boards since that time. John served as President of the Foundation from 2005 to 2007, and 2011 to 2013.
BOARD MEMBER & CHAIR-ELECT
Beau Benton
Beau Benton serves as the president for Larry Blumberg and Associates, a regional real estate development and management firm. Prior to assuming this role in 2005, Benton was a principal in the regional accounting and consulting firm Jackson Thornton. An Auburn graduate with a degree in accounting, Benton has served on a number of nonprofit and industry advisory boards. He is a member of Covenant United Methodist Church. He is married to Karen Wright Benton and they have three children, Samuel, Sarah Wynn, and J. Wilson.
BOARD MEMBER & SECRETARY
J. Vincent Edge
Mr. Edge was born on June 25, 1969 in Mobile, Alabama and raised in Dothan, Alabama. Upon graduation from Northview High School, he attended the University of Alabama where he graduated with a B.S. in accounting in 1992.
Mr. Edge attended Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. Mr. Edge graduated from Cumberland in 1995. In February 1997, Mr. Edge returned to Dothan to join the firm of Farmer, Price, Hornsby & Weatherford. On January 1, 2007, Mr. Edge assumed the role of President of Wiregrass Foundation, where he oversaw the foundation’s charitable investments in Dothan and the surrounding area until August 2010. Upon leaving Wiregrass Foundation, Mr. Edge attended the University of Florida where he graduated with an LL.M. in Taxation in May 2011. After tax school, Mr. Edge joined Johnston Hinesley PC
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER & IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
Addie McKinzie
Addie McKinzie was born in Sebring, Fl before moving to Lake Placid, FL where she called home. After graduating from Saint Mary of the Woods College in 1974 in Terra Haute, Indiana, she moved to Alabama. After working at Southeast Health for 46 years, Addie recently retired and is enjoying her retirement as a dedicated member of the community. Addie’s passion is to assist senior citizens in her local community and form lasting relationships by navigating access to information and medical care through her experience in the field. Addie also dedicates her time to ministries at Outreach for Souls Community Church and Allen Chapel. Addie has 5 children and 7 grandchildren.
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER
John Dunn, M.D.
Dr. John Dunn is a Medical Oncologist and has been with Dothan Hematology and Oncology in Dothan, AL since 1991. He completed residency and fellowship in Internal Medicine/Hematology/Oncology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He received his M.D. from the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 1986. He is married to Susan Dunn since 1983 and lives vicariously through his kids Kathleen and Griffin Dunn who now live in Nashville, TN. He is an active member of the Nazarene Church and enjoys singing. He has done so in choirs and a men’s quartet. He is a retired private pilot who now enjoys the feeling of flying through radio-controlled models or drones. His love for the outdoors has shifted from golf to riding his bike several hours per week. Reading and journaling about family activities is a rainy-day passion.
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER
David Johnston
David Johnston graduated from Birmingham-Southern College in 1974, obtained his law degree from Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, in 1977, and further obtained a Masters in Tax Law from New York University Law School in 1978. Mr. Johnston has been a tax attorney with the law firm of Johnston, Hinesley, P.C. in Dothan, Alabama since August 1, 1978, specializing in tax matters including corporate mergers and acquisitions, estate planning, and tax litigation with the Internal Revenue Service and the Alabama Department of Revenue. Mr. Johnston is a Life Fellow with the Alabama Law Foundation.
BOARD MEMBER
Hope H. Johnson
Hope H. Johnson is CEO of Friend Bank, a fourth-generation family business and one of Alabama's oldest community banks. She currently serves as Chairman of the Alabama Bankers Association, Chairman of the Wiregrass United Way, and is a past Chairman of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce. She serves on the Alabama State Banking Department Board, Community Development Bankers Association Board, Leadership Alabama Regional Council, and First United Methodist Dothan Respite Care Board and Funds Management Committee. Hope is a graduate of the UA Culverhouse College of Business, LSU Graduate School of Banking, and HBS OPM Program. She and her husband Joseph have three song, J.H. (Caroline Kaylor), Lawrence (Kendall), and James.
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER
David Parsons
David W. Parsons is the Managing Partner of ParsonsGroup, LLC, Accountants and Consultants. David has been actively involved in the community and in the past has served as Chairman of the Board of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce, was the founding Chairman of Dothan by Design, founding director of the Dothan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as many other civic organizations. David currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Henry County Industrial Development Authority. David also serves on the Flowers Hospital Board of Trustees. David is active in his church, Calvary Baptist Church where he is a Deacon. He is married to Gayle McLeod Parsons and has 3 children and 4 grandchildren.
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER
Steve McCarroll
Steve McCarroll, retired City President of BBVA Compass Bank in Dothan, Alabama, has been a resident of Dothan for 40 years. He received his degree in economics from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and went on to receive his MBA at Georgia State University. Steve is past Chairman of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and Dothan by Design. He is currently a board member at ServisFirst Bank. He has two daughters, Susan, who is the Marketing Director with the Exceptional Foundation in Homewood, AL, and Ginny, a history and psychology teacher at Mountain Brook Senior High in Birmingham, AL. Steve is an active member at First United Methodist Church in Dothan, AL.
EMERITUS DIRECTOR
Mary Julia Lee
Born in Abbeville, Alabama, Mary Julia Lee began her life of community service at a very young age as a working mother, with a husband still in medical school. Her extended history of working with charitable projects began in New Mexico and continued after her return to Alabama. Here in the Wiregrass, Mary Julia has been a board member, founder, and/or president of over a dozen major organizations including, but not limited to, the Dothan Chamber of Commerce Board, Zonta Club, and the Houston County and Alabama Medical Auxiliaries. In 1985, Mary Julia established Chrysalis, a home for abused or neglected girls in Dothan, where she continues to serve as a board member and past president. Mrs. Lee attended Troy State University and the University of Alabama. She and her husband, Dr. Rufus Lee, have four children and seven grandchildren.